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What's going down here at JKS - getting a handle on things

One of the dumbest things I've done was to start accepting payments on work not yet completed. It's been a good thing to keep the ball rolling but what I didn't anticipate was the level of interest that my services and knives would garner. I was naive in thinking that I could stay ahead of this amount of work and then that my customers would be patient and understanding as I fell behind. I have some great customers but I also have some tough customers who expect better service, that's service that they've been accustomed to receiving from me in the past. I can't blame them for this at all, however, the time constraints of answering status update emails, PMs, and phone calls has become a large part of what I do these days when I'm sure that my time would be better used working on my backlog. Today alone, I have spent over 4 hours addressing update questions, see this is a problem.

So to address the issue I'm first staring with the discontinuing of any pre-paid for work to which includes rehandles, Hiro thinning, & Martell knife orders.

For the work....

Western rehandle & Hiro thinning/etching work (without coupons) will have to send in the knife/knives and wait in line behind all other work in the shop waiting in line ahead of your knife. I won't lie here - this will be a LONG wait.

Martell knife orders will not be taken with layaway payments anymore nor will any advanced payments be accepted. Please PM or email to get on the waiting list. I will contact you for a deposit when it's time to talk details and get started. I won't lie here either - the wait time is going to be LONG here as well.

Stefan Keller wa handles, as well as all sharpening/repair work, will continue to be completed with priority. I devote a few hours each day to sharpening as this is time sensitive work (turnaround time is the #1 thing for mail order sharpeners - people judge this above quality) and I'm able to do a few Stefan handles in between other jobs without problem. Having said that I can not guarantee that your Stefan handle will be installed right away as sometimes I receive 10-20 of these at a time meaning a much longer wait time than has been seen in the past.

For those with work currently in the shop waiting....

If you have a knife here waiting for work to be completed please know that I'm working as hard as I can to get your work done. I promise to do the work in order of receipt but I often have to consider when to work on a knife as is best suited for my workflow in the shop. If you do not hear from me on an update then you should know that there is no update to give.

As always I want you all to know how grateful Robin & I am for all your business and support. With the sale of KKF we are looking at a lot more time to get our business back on track and look forward to serving you the best service and products we can.

For clarification, if you're looking at getting on the list for a Martell knife it's now easier than ever....just send me a message and it's done. No payment is required until it's time to start work - 50% down - then the remainder when the knife is complete.

I think this is a testament to the amazing members here, and the incredible community we have made here. I actually limit my listings, sharpening jobs, etc, so I can keep up with my orders. It's a catch 22, however, because the less new product I have the less people stay interested...anywho.